These lemon sugar cookies are one of my recent favorites. They are soft and chewy and loaded with lemon flavor. The fresh lemon juice and zest give the cookies a tartness that pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the sugar cookie. You could do a lemon glaze to put them over-the-top but frankly I prefer them as is. In fact, you may have a hard time even baking them because the dough is simply divine.
Lemon just says summer to me: Homemade Lemonade, Lemon Ice Box Pie, Citrus Chicken on the Grill…It’s just so fresh and light and the perfect complement to a hot summer day. I’m putting together an end-of-year teacher basket with all kinds of lemon-y goodness. These cookies are one of the items going inside. I’ll be sharing the other basket goodies over the next week or two. In the meantime, whip up a batch of these cookies this weekend.
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1¾ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3 egg yolks
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla
- 3 teaspoons lemon juice (freshly squeezed is best)
- Zest from one lemon
- 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 30 seconds.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix in baking soda and cream of tartar on low speed for 10 seconds.
- While the mixer is low speed, add in egg yolks (one at a time) and continue to mix until incorporated. Stir in vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- One everything is combined, add in the flour ½ cup at a time and stir until all flour is incorporated. Do not over mix.
- Drop dough by the tablespoon on a parchment-covered baking sheet and (using your hands) roll each one into a ball. Cookies will spread during baking, so be sure to leave 3-4 inches between each one.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes or until edges are very slightly browned.
- Cool on cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes before removing cookies from the pan. (This will allow the cookies to finish baking by the heat of the pan.)
If you are looking for more fresh recipes, Follow Me on Pinterest. I’m been pinning lots of fresh summer recipes and many of the delicious looking fresh salads and wraps end up on my Lunch Board. Yum!
What temperature do these bake at? It’s not included in your recipe. Thank you!
You don’t mention the baking temp. Is it 350?
These sound delicious, so I made them. The cookies I made look nothing like the picture. They are flat, like a lacey cookie. I precisely followed the directions. Not sure what went wrong. The batter is yummy and the flat cookie tastes ok (super buttery with a faint hint of lemon). Not sure I’ll make these again.
These cookies are a little on the flat side. You can see in the picture they aren’t super fluffy. I’m not sure why your cookies are too flat. The things that come to mind are 1) Your butter is too soft. 2) You are over mixing the batter and it incorporates too much air into the batter 3) Your baking soda might be old 4) You could be putting the next batch of cookies on the cookie sheet while it’s still too warm. Sorry they didn’t work out for you.
Yum! I love lemon in cookies! Thanks for sharing at Tips & Tricks! 🙂